We all heard the story of gradpa's axe: the one that was handed over to the parent that had to replace its handle and then when you have it, the blade has to be replaced up to the point where nothing from the original axe was left. I was wondering if the same thing applies to watches. I visited a local watchmaker that had a nice 71-73 Speedmaster professional for sale. Main issue is that his owner inherited it from a diseased uncle and since it was in a pretty 'ratty' state, he ordered the watchmaker to do a 'full service' in the watch. The watchmaker tried to explain to the owner that it was doable, but expensive. Also that it would ruin the history of the watch of his uncle, but to no avail, the owner insisted to have the watch look 'as new'. By full service I mean: case, pointers, pushers, dial, crystal, etc. The only thing left was the caliber/movement, that was still in pretty good state. The watchmaker did the job in the watch about 8-9 years ago and now his owner decided to sell it (even though he barely used it). He also mentioned that back then, it was relatively easy to buy all new parts from Omega, but now they are more difficult to supply the parts (i.e. there is a push towards forcing people to send their watches to an AD, but we are getting out of subject). The first philosophical question is: would this still be considered a 70's speedmaster? Given that almost everything was replaced? And the practical question: how much it would be worth? The owner seems bound to ask 3.6K dollars for it, which considering the watch has being collecting dust for 8 years, it is probably time for a service. I mean, given the watch doesn't have the box, pictograms or even an omega bracelet (it is in a generic leather band), I'm really unsure how much it would be worth. And more importantly, if such 'fully serviced' watch is worthy any attention or not.
1st rule of vintage Omega is "Dont send it to Omega for service" Reason being is that they will replace all the old parts (that you listed above) with new service parts. Furthermore, they will more often than not not return original parts. For some watches this isnt as big of a deal, but for a lot of others it kills the watch. It loses its appeal, its history, it looks sanitized and its soul is gone. Once original parts are replaced, price also suffers (again for vintage watches) No one will pay 10s of thousands of dollars for replacement dial, hands, case and so on that look like they just came out of factory. But they will for originals. In terms of speedmaster in questions, I surely would not pay $3600 for service parts watch, especially when you can buy same watch for less, or same with all original parts. Only way I would consider it is if all the original parts were included with the watch. That way i can put it back in the original shape and sell service parts.
If he still has all the other parts he's OK if not he's going to take a hit. Shit if he did he could probably sell the parts for more than the watch Without seeing the watch can't help much more so I have to give my no pictures price $200 ( every watch without pictures is worth $200 and every redial is worth $200 just one of my things )
Next week I got fetch one of my watches in the watchmaker shop and will try to get photos of the 'serviced' moonwatch.
The economical value is in the originality and the condition of the vintage watch in question Everyone buying a watch like the one described by OP is a fool in economical terms if he seeks to make a good investment. Buying OP´s watch means you´re indifferent/ ignorant to money, and if you want to pass on the watch you need to find someone else with the same charachteristics. And there always seems to be someone else next in line... That being said, despite how hard it is for us watch nerds to understand, there is a parallel market for watches that we don´t want to deal with It´s still a watch, but have no collectors value to it
Watches like this leave me cold. I'd rather pay a little more for a brand new Speedmaster Pro and create some of my own history with it, passing it down to my son when the time comes. To me, a vintage watch needs to look 'vintage', that's just the starting point for me. Beyond that it should also be as original as possible, and not a complete franken, though at least a franken (using period correct parts) has its place so long as its properly described and priced accordingly. 'New/Old' is the worst scenario IMO.
This isn't correct. Omega does return the parts they replace. There are a few exceptions for parts used on some LE's, and some precious metal parts that you are getting cheaper because they reclaim the precious metal from the old parts, but most parts are returned to the owner after service. Cheers, Al